Appraisal Video: (2:33)

GUEST: Yeah, because they're so much fun. I go almost every week and there's a new experience every week and all my friends laugh at me, and my family laughs at me, but I have the best time. And this is a result of a garage sale.

APPRAISER: So you bought this at a garage sale how long ago?

GUEST: Probably six or eight years ago.

APPRAISER: How much did you pay for it?

GUEST: Somewhere between a dollar and five dollars. That's usually my limit. It's hard to go wrong at that level.

APPRAISER: This is a piece of art pottery, but what's different about this from most art pottery is that instead of being overglaze earthenware this is a piece of salt-glazed stoneware, and most art pottery was not. That's almost an archaic technique, that by the time the art pottery period was happening around the turn of the century, they weren't using it anymore in America. It's actually signed underneath. It's got an "SF," which is for "Susan Frackelton," who is a very famous China painter who became an art potter as well and a teacher. She wrote books. She was really quite well-known, and not much of her art pottery exists. For the most part, when you find Susan Frackelton's ware, it's underglaze painted porcelain, which was a precursor to the art pottery movement. What I really like about this piece is in addition to the fact that it's a piece of decorated salt-glazed stoneware, it's a 360-degree design of a lake scene with sailboats in the background of the lake.

GUEST: See, I didn't even notice those.

APPRAISER: And the view is between these really tall pine trees. It's a really classic Arts-and-Crafts lake scene, which is something that is unheard of for her. I've seen a number of her pieces, usually florals when you see them. Maybe there's one or two scenics out there, but a lake scene with tall pine trees? It's really pretty cool, so, uh, I'm going to be a little conservative on this one. In terms of auction estimate, it would be between $13,000 and $17,000.

GUEST: Oh, my God.

APPRAISER: Yeah. I had a piece, I'm not kidding, I had a piece a few years back, it was pretty, it had a couple chips on the top, and it had flowers-- it was very nicely decorated. No bigger than this, and the estimate was $4,000 to $6,000, and it brought $21,000. It's a record for a Frackelton. This is a better pot, but again, to be conservative, I think $13,000 to $17,000 is reasonable.

GUEST: Oh, my God.

APPRAISER: So this is a great flea market or garage sale find.

GUEST: Did it have a thing, do you think...

APPRAISER: It looks to me like it was maybe a condiment jar of some sort, like a vinegar jar. It maybe had a silver lid at one point. But, uh, a good gourd-shaped vase.